Education
My background is that I went to Christ's Hospital, commonly known as the Bluecoat school which is primarily a boarding school near Horsham. I would recommend this school to anyone who has the opportunity to go there. The video below is one I took on returning to CH, as it is known.
The Mission of CH is to: Challenge inequality by providing a nurturing, transformative education for young people from all backgrounds. The generosity of our benefactors has built up a valuable endowment over the centuries. However, Christ’s Hospital’s commitment to provide more bursary support than any other independent boarding school in the country exceeds the annual income from its endowment assets. Philanthropy therefore remains central for Christ’s Hospital to continue to transform lives for future generations.
I benefitted from my parents paying just 10% of full-fees, and I am against the imposition of VAT on private schools as it deters parents from providing the best for their children.
After passing A Levels in mathematics, physics and chemistry, I went to the University of Southampton where I gained a degree in Electronics. The Electronics and Computer Science faculty at the University of Southampton remains one of the leading faculties in the UK.
Career
In electronics, my responsibilities were developing military communications equipment and commercial communications equipment.
I then joined the EMI Records Group as a trainee Accountant and worked at: the record factory in Hayes; HMV Shops in Central London and for various EMI Records labels. After three years, I became a CIMA qualified accountant. It was at EMI Records that my passion for popular music developed and remains to this day.
Keen to combine electronics and finance, I joined IBM, a leading multinational company in the information processing industry. My career has included roles in manufacturing: systems, cost accounting, fixed assets accounting, invoicing and ledger systems. I have spent 10 years in international audit where I have managed audits covering all kinds of administration systems from payroll, accounting, payables, invoicing and receivables, development and sales operations. I also have excellent forensic accounting skills. More recently I have had extensive experience in accounting and business controls, due diligence and the acquisition and business integration of small and large companies.
Beliefs
I have the utmost integrity and will always stand up for what is correct, and consequently I will always seek justice for others and myself when they are disadvantaged unfairly. I tend to focus on substance over form and getting things "right first time". I thrive when managing complex projects and always put customer satisfaction first.
Hobbies and interests
Interests include driving and using tax efficient saving. I currently drive a Tesla Model 3 which I acquired in September 2020. This is a fabulous car with very low maintenance costs, no road tax, and with "fuel" costing less than 3p per mile. The most interesting feature of the car is that virtually everything is controlled by the Touch Screen, including opening the glove box. I have added a supplemental screen to the Tesla computer which displays Apple CarPlay.
I will replace the photo with a video in due course.
Previously, I owned a new BMW M3 in orange. I've always liked fast cars with plenty of gadgets and using a laptop you are able to reprogram modern cars to change features, as I did.
As well as the interests on this website, I do like popular music and I regularly go to pop music concerts both locally, in London, and around the country for those artists and groups I like that include: Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, ColdPlay, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Girls Aloud, Ellie Goulding, Nadine Coyle, and various Tribute bands for Fleetwood Mac (Rumours of Fleetwood Mac) and Pink Floyd (Aussie Floyd and Brit Floyd). I also enjoy musical theatre.
I recently gave up my hobby of target shooting and sold my air-rifles on Guntrader which is an excellent site, and I feel safer since I no longer own guns of any kind.